May 2026

How zero-knowledge encryption works in Authly

A gentle introduction to the key hierarchy that keeps your TOTP secrets unreadable to everyone but you.

Authly stores your TOTP secrets in the cloud, but it cannot read them. Here is how that works.

Two keys

Your master password is stretched with PBKDF2 into a key-encryption key. That key never leaves your browser. It wraps a randomly generated data-encryption key, and that data key encrypts every secret with AES-GCM.

What the server sees

Only ciphertext, an initialization vector, and the wrapped key. Without your master password none of it can be decrypted — which is exactly why recovery kits and backups matter.